Clarksville woman shares happiness at Christmas

My prediction from last week held true — I was the last person one Clarksville woman expected to see as she was finishing some Christmas shopping this week.

My prediction from last week held true — I was the last person one Clarksville woman expected to see as she was finishing some Christmas shopping this week.

Candice Deis was loading bags into the trunk of her black Ford Taurus in the Central Mall parking lot when I darted by searching for someone near Rogers Avenue and Waldron Road.

“I still have some more Christmas shopping left,” said Candice, 20, after closing the trunk lid.

Born in Colorado and raised both there and in Alma, Candice now lives in Alma and works at Braum’s. But she’s spending time in Alma with her family — which includes five sisters ranging in age from 8-18 — until the holidays.

“I had already bought my little sister something, but she had been asking for a globe with a light in it,” Candice said of the gift she picked up that morning at the mall.

Besides her five sisters, Candice buys gifts for her mother, grandmother, girlfriend and her girlfriend’s family.

“I just have two more people to buy for,” said Candice, adding that most of her shopping has been done at the mall or at Walmart.

While she admits she doesn’t have a budget, she does try to spend around $20 for each of the people on her Christmas list.

“If I see something I like or I know they want and it’s a little more than that, I’ll go ahead and get it,” Candice said.

For Candice, Christmas is a time of happiness.

“I like to give what the kids want and to make them happy,” Candice said, adding that she enjoys the time she gets to spend with her family as well. “I just love seeing the smiles on their faces.”

And being able to see the amazement in the eyes of her youngest sister, who still believes in the magic of Santa Claus, is an added bonus.

“She was asking about Santa here at the mall and where he was,” Candice said. “We told her he had to go back to get the sleigh ready.”

She got what I would consider an early start on her Christmas shopping — Candice said she started the week before Thanksgiving.

Some wouldn’t consider that an early start. It seems that every year I have really good intentions of starting early and having plenty of time to put a lot of thought into each gift for my family and friends so they are just perfect; but sometimes life gets in the way of even the best of intentions.

Between a road trip to Sioux City, Iowa, to watch my youngest daughter’s collegiate volleyball team compete in the NAIA national championships and settling my mother-in-law into an area hospice house due to a terminal infection, there hasn’t been much time for Christmas shopping.

I did manage to squeeze a little time in to do some shopping with Dad this week. The annual trek to Fort Smith he and Mom used to make for Christmas shopping was something I looked forward to every year — and still do, although now it’s just me and Dad.

We made a few other stops before hitting the mall ourselves in search of the perfect gift for my niece and nephew. I got some of my shopping done; I think Dad got all of his completed in that one evening.

Despite the shopping trip, the spirit of Christmas just hadn’t found its way into my heart this year until a dinner party with hometown school friends later in the week. After a delectable hibachi meal at Shogun’s, we each exchanged Christmas ornaments. I took an ornament that reflected my personality — it was a turquoise fleur-de-lis trimmed with wood and a twine hanging hook.

What I brought home were two ornaments — a beautiful blue, sparkly butterfly purchased by one of my dearest friends in memory of my mother, along with a glittery red high-heeled shoe, representing the memory of another friend’s daughter who died two months before Mom.

But what I also brought home with me was that Christmas spirit I’d been lacking. Christmas is a time to cherish our family and friends and hold them close. It’s a time to honor traditions and remember those before us who helped pass those traditions on to us.

I’m taking the Christmas spirit with me this weekend as my husband and I celebrate an early holiday with our daughters and son-in-law.

I hope you find and keep the happiness of Christmas this week that Candice has as you finish up last-minute shopping and wrap up the last of the wrapping.

Will I find someone filled with Christmas spirit next week? I’m eager to see who I will find when I dart to the neighborhoods just down Rogers Avenue near Albert Pike. I’m headed your way next.

PAM CLOUD IS A FEATURE WRITER FOR THE TIMES RECORD. E-MAIL: PCLOUD@SWTIMES.COM

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